Book contents
- Front Matter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Democracy, historians, and the civil war
- 2 Opposition and revolution
- 3 Decolonising the state
- 4 Making politics normal
- 5 A slightly constitutional opposition
- 6 Cults of little personality
- Coda: Multiparty democracy in the Irish Free State
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Democracy, historians, and the civil war
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 February 2026
Book contents
- Front Matter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Democracy, historians, and the civil war
- 2 Opposition and revolution
- 3 Decolonising the state
- 4 Making politics normal
- 5 A slightly constitutional opposition
- 6 Cults of little personality
- Coda: Multiparty democracy in the Irish Free State
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter sets out the historiographical context for the book. It analyses the ways in which previous scholars have emphasised Ireland’s relatively easy transition to democracy after the civil war ended, whether through analyses of factors that smoothed this transition or analyses of the democratic beliefs of key Irish politicians. The chapter also notes the fact that recent scholarly emphasis on the Irish civil war has obscured the challenges to democracy that continued after the civil war ended in 1923.
Information
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- Chapter
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- Democracy and dissent in the Irish Free StateOpposition, decolonisation, and majority rights, pp. 1 - 19Publisher: Manchester University PressFirst published in: 2026
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